The Dance
by Youknowwhatever
Summary: Dipper and Norman's date at a school dance is interrupted by a totally spooky ghost that wants to possess Dipper's body! Whatever will they do?
1. Chapter 1

**Note:** So I don't really get on here too often, but I used to really like parapines back in 2012 when it helped keep me happy through college and I thought I might as well put something out there now that it's four years later and hardly anybody still cares. I'll continue this at some point soon. Dipper and Norman are like 15/14 in this btw. Also this is stupid.

* * *

Dipper Pines wasn't really the kind of person who cared much about looking "presentable." Usually all he needed was his trademark t-shirt, shorts, and sweat-stained vest and he was good for whatever death-defying adventure awaited him on any particular day. But tonight was no usual night. Tonight, hopefully, wouldn't feature any paranormal activities of any kind. It would instead feature dancing, food, and hopefully a little boyfriend smoochin' if he played his cards right. And that meant dressing up in his fanciest duds.

A week earlier, Dipper caught wind of a dance being held in the Gravity Falls high school gymnasium, and after much insecure hand wringing and nervousness Dipper managed to work up the courage to ask his boyfriend Norman if he would maybe wanna go with him if he wasn't too busy or anything and to the delight of the boy he said yes. Ever since admitting to liking each other as "more than friends" at the start of the summer, their "dates" ordinarily consisted of the same types of general hanging out and adventures in the woods they had usually gone on the summers before, only with the added components of hand holding and the occasional cuddling sesh thrown in. Starting tonight, Dipper was determined to change all that. Starting with his wardrobe.

In his room at the Mystery Shack he put them on. His regular vest he exchanged for a black sweater one over a white button up, his cargo shorts he replaced with black dress pants. The bow tie he usually wore around his bare neck with his usual wardrobe to look fancy was in the process of being tied under his collar as was proper. Even his hat was cast aside. By the time he was finished he was looking pretty snazzy if he did say so himself.

"Well you're looking uncommonly dapper tonight," Mabel said as she sauntered into the room. "Hey, I should start calling you Dapper instead of Dipper, eh? Eh? EH?" She punctuated each exclamation with pokes to her brother's face that started out playful but quickly became painful.

"Yes, okay," He said, shielding himself until the jabs finally stopped. "I heard you. Eh."

"I daresay you're the dapperist Dipper ever to dip and dap, now give me some dap, dip." She raised her palm for Dipper to give her some of the aforementioned dap and let it hover in the air just long enough for it to become awkward once it was clear that no dap would be given on this night. "How you feelin'? Excited for your big date?"

"Heck yes. Tonight I'm gonna sweep Norman off his feet real nice and classy like. This is kinda our first 'date-date,' you know? It's gonna be so romantic. It'll be just like when Selina Kyle danced with Bruce Wayne at Miranda Tate's charity ball in _The Dark Knight Rises_. Only we're both Bruce and there's no hamfisted Occupy Wall Street metaphor."

"Whatever Dapper. Any big, unnecessary, convoluted plan you got stashed away? You got your mile long list of a thousand parts?"

"Please. Tonight the plan is just to dance and maybe, I dunno," turning away, he mumbled into his shoulder something that sounded suspiciously similar to "kiss Norman for the first time," but either his sister didn't hear it or chose to ignore his little comment for the moment.

"You're gonna have fun. And I'll be there the whole time collecting some sweet scrapbookertunities™."

"You know, ordinarily I find your tendency to photograph unguarded moments of our relationship extremely disrespectful and intrusive, but tonight I want these memories documented, so-" he placed his hand over his mouth and adopted an odd high-pitched manner of speaking "-you have my permission to take pictures." The confused look on his sister's face told him that he had vastly overestimated his own ability to make a hip pop-culture reference, as usual, and could only blush as he sheepily explained, "That was a Bane impression. I'm sorry. Let's forget I did that. Just go get your camera. I have a feeling he'll be here any-" as if on some sitcom-esque queue, a series of knocks came to the front door, which sent Dipper on a mad dash to let whoever was knocking in.

Opening the front door, Dipper got a good look at Norman, who had too dressed himself as nicely as he could for the occasion. It was quite a shock to Dipper's system to see him wearing "formal wear," even though it was just a wrinkled and untucked white dress shirt, a black tie, and khakis. Not that he was complaining. In his head it was like one of those scenes in the movies where the camera starts on a pair of feet and pans up to reveal an incredibly attractive woman dressed in a beautiful dress while saxophone music plays in the background. Only it was gangly and spiky-haired Norman standing on the other side of the door.

"Wow," Dipper said as his kokoro totally went doki doki. "You, um…you look amazing."

Norman chuckled. "I wouldn't go that far, but thanks. You look nice too. You ready?"

"Yeah, let's go. I'll drive the cart."

"No way, I'm driving tonight," Mabel said as she pushed past her brother and hopped in the front seat of their golf-cart to start the engine. "You two can sit together in the back. Just call me Chauffeur Mabel and the cart our limo."

"Thanks Maybs."

"Don't mention it. After all, I wanna give you guys your privacy. Since I'm sure you're gonna wanna be all over each other tonight." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively in her brother's face as he and Norman climbed aboard, to their mutual embarrassment. "Iffin you catch my drift."

"Oh, I think so."

* * *

"So what you're saying," Norman asked incredulously, "Is that Batman just shows up from out of nowhere after being left for dead on the other side of the world back in Gotham while the city's on total lockdown? That doesn't make any sense."

Dipper was having none of his sass. "It makes perfect sense. He's Bruce Wayne, he's like a billionaire! He's got all kinds of connections."

"That's stupid."

"You're stupid," Dipper said with far more venom than was warranted. " _Jason X_ doesn't make any sense but I didn't hear any complaints out of you after we watched that."

"You take that back! _Jason X_ is a new cult classic!"

"OKAY WE'RE HERE YOU TWO CAN SHUT UP NOW!" Mabel loudly announced as she slammed on the brakes and """""parked""""" on the lawn in front of the school. Understandably, she was rather annoyed that instead of boys kissing each other in the backseat she had to endure them arguing about a superhero movie people stopped caring about years ago. Such is life.

The trio hopped out of the cart, Dipper and Norman reaching for each other's hands and clasping them together as they walked the rest of the way to the building, a large brick thing that was utilitarian and plain in its design. Multicolored lights were visible from the windows and the dull but steady beat of dance music emanated from within the walls. As the three walked, they passed by many other young couples in various stages of physical contact.

It wasn't long before Norman noticed Dipper's hand was approaching a clammy state that was unusually pronounced even for him. Dipper must have gotten self-conscious about it as well since he muttered an embarrassed "sorry" and broke their linked grip momentarily to wipe his palms on his pants. It wasn't just his hands either. Dipper's face, Norman saw, had a layer of nervous sweat accumulating, and his whole body was tensing with every step. Norman, though he usually found his boyfriend's nerves endearing (not to mention adorable) decided he should probably cut the kid a break and make sure he was all right.

"You okay Dip? Norman asked, stopping just outside the building's large double doors where the droning of music was seeping through. "You seem nervous. I mean you're always kinda high strung, but…"

"What? Yeah, I'm totally fine no worries here heheheh!" Obviously, there were in fact many worries here.

"We don't have to do this, you know." He spoke firmly but softly, reassuring his boyfriend that he didn't want to make him do anything he wasn't comfortable with. "We could go back to the shack and just hang out like always. Or I could pretend to be here with Mabel and you and me could just hold hands under the tables or something."

"What? No!" he blurted out. As if taken aback by his outburst, Dipper regained his composure and managed a genuine smile. "I mean, if I wanna be a good b-boyfriend, I'm gonna have to start taking you on dates that aren't just running for our lives in the woods or watching crappy horror movies at the shack. You deserve better." Awww. Even Mabel was smiling at that. "I want to do this. Really. Now lets get in there."

Hands back together, they faced the door, but before Mabel kicked it open all gangbusters-style Norman leaned into Dipper's ear and simply said, "For the record, I think you're a great boyfriend," bringing a new shade of red to Dipper's face.

Once they finally entered they found a large room of flashing lights and scores of youths all mingling about under the neon streamers and silvery reflective decorations that were stuck everywhere. The soundscape was a veritable cacophony of chatting and music, an assault on the ears to match the decorations' assault on the eyes. It was a lot to take in at once.

"What d'you wanna do first?" Norman helpfully prompted. "You hungry or anything? I see a snack table over in the corner."

"I could go for some punch."

Mabel, still smiling from her brother's earlier comments, just shook her head and pushed him along. "Nothing for me. Why don't you be a gentleman and get Dipper something to drink. We'll wait over here."

"Okay. Be right back."

Once the twins were alone, Dipper noticed his sister staring at him, still smiling. It was pretty creepy.

"What?" Dipper finally asked.

Playfully, she socked his arm. "I'm proud of you, bro-bro.

"Heh, thanks."

"Hey, you know why I like taking pictures of you guys together?"

Dipper rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "You like embarrassing us?"

"Oh absolutely. But also because I like seeing you so happy. I'm glad you found somebody who can make you smile like he does. And I know it's gonna be hard once he has to go back to Massachusetts for the rest of the year and you'll have to do the whole 'long distance thing.' I just want you to have as many memories preserved as possible."

Oh right. Dipper didn't really like to think about how he only had a couple more days with Norman before they had to part. The Babcock family only visited for a few weeks every summer, always thanks to Norman begging and pleading for them to return because the town was very "therapeutic" for him. Sure they still had Skype and instant messaging and whatnot, but it wasn't the same. Fist clenched and eyes squinted in determination, Dipper assured his sister, "I'm gonna make this night count."


	2. Chapter 2

There were many foodstuffs piled on the table in big platters, cheese and crackers and cookies and other typical teenage dance fodder. Norman grabbed a couple of cups and quickly ladled himself and Dipper a couple of drinks before turning to go back to his boyfriend when a faint sound halted him in his tracks. A sound that was nearly buried completely under the god-awful noise of "Who Let the Dogs Out" that was blasting over the speakers.

Had it not been for the telltale green shine Norman caught out the corner of his eye as he turned around to investigate, he might have ignored it and continued on his merry way. Instead he saw a young girl, a ghost that looked to have been about his age, sitting against the wall by the bathrooms, crying into her hands.

By her garish dress with its gigantically puffed up sleeves (only matched by her massive hairstyle) and the style of make up that was visible still on her face, Norman guessed that she must have died in the 1980's, and Norman thought her appearance very vaporwave, but only because he had heard Mabel use that word a few days before and he only vaguely understood what it meant.

The only other distinguishing feature he could make out was the open wound that ran down the girl's head from the top of the skull to over her right eye.

Sympathy for the girl filled the medium's heart, and he set aside his drinks in favor of approaching her. Once he was standing in front of her, he first cleared his throat in the hopes of getting her attention, but she remained buried in her arms.

"Um, e-excuse me," he said, and finally she looked up, a shocked expression on her face at being acknowledged for the first time since she died. "I was just wondering if you were okay."

"You can see me?"

"I have… a gift." He slid down to sit next to her. "I'm Norman, by the way."

"Janet," the ghost girl replied.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing in particular. This night just always makes me sad I guess."

"Why?"

She sighed. "This was the night I died. Back in '85."

After kicking himself for instinctively hearing the chorus of Bowling For Soup's "1985" in his head after she said that, he pressed on. He had long ago gotten used to morbid tales of death from the mouths of the ghosts he interacted with, but still with sincere sympathy he said, "Oh. I'm so sorry. Can I ask what happened?"

"It's so stupid, it's not even interesting at all. I came to this dance with my date, a boy named George. I was so happy. I was never all that popular, but I was determined to make it the best night of my life. But as soon as I came in through those doors I tripped on this freaking dress, busted up my head. So unfair, so horribly unfair and random and just stupid how a life can end just like that."

"I've seen a lot of worse ways to go. What do you think is keeping you here?"

"Honestly, dumb as it is? I just feel so cheated. That was supposed to be the best night of my life, and it was ripped from my hands. Like I said, unfair." She sunk back down, fresh tears of ectoplasm dripping onto the floor, and Norman's heart sank. After a moment of considering what she said about why she was still clinging to the mortal plain, he came up with an idea that would hopefully satisfy her and help her move on.

"How about I help make this your special night?" He said, flashing her a crooked smile. "I'd love to save you a dance. Would that help?"

"Doubt it. I've tried to make the most of this new existence, tried to recapture the magic I thought would be there on that night. Dancing among the living every year, pretending to eat cheap cookies. I even used to stand between people when they were getting their pictures taken so I could be part of their memories in some small way. But it never helped. As a ghost I can't feel anything. I'm so disconnected from everything and it sucks. Oh how I long to feel the touch of another's arm around my waist, the brush of a hand upon my cheek. 'I am human and I want to be loved!' That's a Smiths lyric. You like the Smiths? They really speak to me. They're still together, right?"

"Uh, sure," he lied. "Look, there has to be some way I can help you."

"I don't think so," she said, as though resigned to her fate. Then a look crossed her face, one that said some spark of inspiration had struck her. "Unless…"

"Unless what?

"Are you here with somebody?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling sweetly. "My boyfriend. Dipper."

"What, boyfriend? You're gay?"

"That's not a problem for you, right?" Just what he needed. A homophobic ghost.

"I'll make do with what I have. Listen, I have an idea that maybe will really creep you out but it's all I can think of to end this awful existence I lead. Are you willing to hear it?"

Though something told him he wouldn't like where this was going, still he put on an encouraging smile and nodded for her to go on.

* * *

"Yeah, so I know it's probably a big shock and all," Dipper said, puffing his chest out with pride, "but me and Norman are kinda going out."

"Oh wow really?" Pacifica Northwest said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I never would have guessed. Seriously, I'm pretty sure the whole town already knew about you two losers." That got a chuckle out of Mabel, but Dipper was too busy being struck with the sudden realization that Norman had been getting drinks for an awfully long time to be embarrassed. Dipper had been so engrossed catching up with Pacifica before to notice, but now he was looking around trying to spot his boyfriend. Sure enough, he saw Norman with his back against the wall, chatting to thin air. Dipper had long ago learned that type of behavior could only mean that ghostly shenanigans were afoot. The kind of ghostly shenanigans he was in no mood to deal with right now.

"Uh, excuse me, I think I need to go check on something. Be right back."

Dipper left the two girls alone, and as soon as he was out of earshot Pacifica turned to Mabel and said, "So, you gonna dance with me or what?"

"Yeah!" came Mabel's enthusiastic response.

* * *

The medium and the ghost cut their conversation short as soon as they spotted Dipper rushing towards them. "Hey Norman. Who's your new friend?" Dipper asked, gesturing to the empty space beside him.

"Oh, hey Dip, I was just gonna come get you. Janet, this is Dipper, Dipper, this is Janet."

Though of course he couldn't see her, Dipper still looked where he guessed her eyes must have been and politely said, "Um, nice to meet you Janet." Turning his attention back to the person he could actually hold a conversation with, he asked, "What have you guys been talking about? You ready to go hit the dance floor?"

"Well…" Norman began, rubbing his neck nervously. "Maybe not quite in the way you're thinking."

Already Dipper realized that things weren't going to go well for him. "Oh no. What do you mean?"

"Well, it's a little complicated, but basically, and don't get mad but…" He searched a moment for a delicate way to put it, but must have decided that it was better just to be blunt because then he blurted out "Janet kind of wants to possess your body and use it to dance with me."

"What!?"

Norman was quick to try calming him down. "Just for a little while, I promise. She died before she could go on her date here thirty years ago, so she just wants to experience it in a real body."

"Uh-uh, no way. I've tried the whole 'being possessed' thing before and I wasn't a fan. I felt like how Bruce Wayne felt at the bottom of that pit in _The Dark Knight Rises_."

"First of all, stop referencing that movie. It was a six out of ten _at best._ Secondly, at the first sign of any problems I promise I'll exorcize her from you. I've gotten pretty good at it."

"Well why does it have to be me? There are hundreds of other people she could choose from in this room."

"She doesn't want to do this without somebody being okay with it. And besides, she says she wants to spend this night with me, since I'm the first person she's connected with since she died."

"Oh, so what, she's your girlfriend now?"

As calm as Noman had been dealing with Dipper's understandable frustration the rest of their conversation, that little statement really annoyed him. "No, Dipper, that's not what this is about and you know it. Just… trust me on this." He grabbed Dipper's hands tenderly. "I know you've been looking forward to this night and that you're probably disappointed, but nothing bad is going to happen to you. I have to try to help her. I'm the only person who can, okay?" Norman looked compassionately into his boyfriend's eyes and smiled gently and, as was usually the case whenever Norman looked at him like that, Dipper found himself melting in his warm gaze.

He sighed sadly, but seemed to accept the task given to him. "…Alright. I trust you." Turning again to the empty space beside Norman again, Dipper said, "Janet, go ahead whenever you're ready. Try not to break anything."

Janet, who had been content to just listen to the two talk this whole time, suddenly broke into a big excited grin and leapt into Dipper's body. Though his eyes glowed green momentarily and a phantom trail of mist escaped his mouth, in an instant Dipper's face reverted to normal and J took to admiring her new form, laughing happy giggles as she held Dipper's hands in front of her eyes.

"Oh my god oh my god ohmygodohmygod! This is incredible!"

"Glad you like it. So-" he was about to ask for a dance when all of a sudden she leapt in front of the snack table and began gorging herself on everything in front of her. Norman only observed in a mixture of both disgust and a vague sense of being impressed at how insatiable a young dead girl's hunger could be. When he felt his boyfriend's stomach had been filled enough (he didn't want the kid to have a horrible stomachache when control of his body returned to him), he touched her shoulder to gain her attention. To his surprise and mortification she grabbed his hand and started rubbing it affectionately across her new face, soaking in the first physical contact she had felt since her death.

"Um, I was just wondering if you've had enough to eat."

"Sorry," she said, crumbs flying from Dipper's mouth. "I haven't eaten in thirty years. Of course I'm gonna be hungry."

"It's okay, I understand. You, uh, wanna keep eating for a while, or do you wanna dance?"

"No no, let's dance now! Come on!" Hand still clutching Norman's, she pulled him with unnecessary violence to the dance floor, where other kids were already crowded.

Immediately Janet launched into a series of pretty impressive moves from the 80's, moonwalking and the sprinkler and the like. For a while she and Norman danced to standard age-appropriate music, as was the norm for functions such as these. Typical fare like "Lady Marmalade," "Sk8er Boi," and "Killing in the Name of." Janet, having years of observation and practice as a ghost under her belt, was a surprisingly good dancer and easily outshined Norman with his uncoordinated moves.

Mabel, having not been filled in on the fact that her brother wasn't really her brother on this night, broke away from dancing with Pacifica under the guise of having "important work to do." After collecting a few snapshots of what she assumed were joyous moments between her brother and his boyfriend, she returned to grooving.

He had hoped all she would've needed to move on would be to dance to a few mediocre early 2000's pop songs; the kinds Dipper would no doubt have appreciated. Then he could salvage his date and enjoy the rest of the night as was planned. Unfortunately, such was not the case.

An hour or so of flailing limbs later and Norman was getting exhausted, though Janet's spirit seemed to imbue Dipper's body with limitless stamina since she was still dancing the robot with reckless abandon even as Norman was nearly ready to collapse. As if sensing his tiredness, Janet grabbed him again by the hand and shouted over the music "I'm bored of dancing, let's go do something else." He weakly smiled and nodded and was led enthusiastically to the professional photographer hired for the night's event.

 _Mabel sure isn't going to be happy about this,_ Norman thought to himself as Janet selected for them a backdrop of puffy clouds, and sure enough Mabel was there in an instant arguing with the professional and yelling at him that it was her job and her job alone to take photographs of her brother and his boyfriend. After numerous threats of violence and legal penalties, she contented herself with snapping cheap digital pictures of the "happy couple" while the photographer did the same with his equipment. Janet smiled a gigantic grin as she wrapped her arms around Norman's shoulders and stood close to him in a pose for the flashing cameras.

Dutifully, Norman escorted her around the entire night, as she demanded to experience all that the dance had to offer. He fed her chocolate fondue, took her for a walk outside on the grounds (she having not been able to leave the building itself in all her time as a ghost), and even sang a duet version of "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls with her at the karaoke machine when it was brought out. It was horrible. Mabel was there at each notable moment.

Norman put up a happy façade, always smiling and laughing with the girl even though in his heart he couldn't help but be sad that Dipper couldn't experience the date with him. He had told himself before that if nothing else he would at least be able to trick himself into thinking that the person he was spending the night with was truly his boyfriend, but every time he looked into the eyes he saw not Dipper's soul but someone else entirely.

And so the night passed by…


	3. Chapter 3

They stayed far longer than most, deep into the night long after most of the other couples left. By midnight it was only them and a few others scattered on the once full dance floor as a few custodians cleaned the rest of the space. By this point Norman was afraid that Janet would never willingly leave Dipper's body, and made a mental note to spring for the vial of holy water he kept on his person at all times for such situations if this ridiculous nonsense didn't resolve itself in the next five minutes.

Janet savored the close contact, hands around Norman's waist as they swayed slowly to the low-tempo music.

"This has been the best night of my afterlife. Heck, the best night of my life too."

"Wait till you see what comes after once you move on. I hear it's pretty great."

"Thank you Norman. Thank you so much. I'm so happy you stumbled across me. What did you say your boyfriend's name was again?"

"Dipper."

"That's a funny kinda name. But still. Tell Dipper I said 'thank you so much for letting me use your body.' It really meant the world to me."

"I will."

"You remind me of the guy I was supposed to go on my date with before I died."

"Who's that?"

"George, remember?"

"Oh, right."

"He was really sweet too. Looked kinda like you too. If I squint… Norman, do you think, if it's not too weird, I could just call you George? Just once? You wouldn't have to do anything different."

"Sure, I don't mind."

"George, I had such a great time with you. I don't think I could possibly be happier tonight. Except for one tiny thing."

Before he knew what was happing Janet stood up as tall as Dipper's body would allow and pressed a kiss to his lips. The instant they made contact a bright flash flared up and nearly blinded Norman and once his vision cleared again he saw Mabel standing nearby with her camera, giving a big thumbs up and smiling profusely. In all honesty Norman didn't really know what to make of the kiss. Though it was technically his and Dipper's first, it couldn't help but feel pretty hollow given the circumstances.

As soon as Janet pulled away Dipper's body began convulsing violently, as if trying to reject its host, and his head snapped far back and a green smoke drifted out of his mouth.

It was the soul of Janet departing from this earthly plane, her laughter ringing out briefly before fading into the air.

When the smoke cleared Dipper collapsed on the floor and immediately his boyfriend and sister rushed down to make sure he was all right. Eyelids fluttered open and though his voice was groggy Dipper seemed unharmed.

"Oh my God, Dipper, what's wrong?" Mabel, who still was unaware of any of the night's supernatural overtones, was more concerned than Norman was.

"Nothing, I'm fine. Just a little sore is all."

"Must be from all that dancing you were doing!" she said, helping him up. "Dipper you were amazing tonight, I'm so proud of you! It looked like you were having so much fun."

"Yeah. Looked like it." Observing that the once lively environment around him had long ago died out, Dipper continued, "And it looks like we should be getting out of here. Come on guys, let's go." Without waiting for the others, Dipper went out the building's front doors.

"What's wrong with him?" Mable asked as they followed.

"I'll explain on the way."

* * *

As promised, Norman explained everything to Mabel as they drove home, which left the girl feeling a bit regretful for pestering them all night. Dipper, for what it was worth, was at least feeling better by the time they got to the shack. Physically, that is. Emotionally he still seemed pretty down, staying quiet the whole ride until finally they reached the shack.

He dragged his feet inside, ahead of the others, and was just entering when he heard his sister calling after him.

"Hey Dip, wait a minute." Catching up to her brother, Mabel produced her camera and pressed it into his hands, letting him scroll through the photo queue to look at all the pictures she had taken. "These are all the pictures I took tonight. I know it's not really you, but I could scrapbook these anyway if you wanted to pretend you experienced your date. It's still your body after all. It won't take much imagination."

He shook his head sadly and returned the camera. "Look closely upon the eyes, for if the eyes are truly the windows into the soul of a man than in these visages you'll see not me but the specter that has possessed mine flesh upon this night. The memories immortalized upon these photographs are sullied by the knowledge that this is merely a haunted doppelganger of myself, parading around my skin as her own. No, I wish not for these to be scrapbooked. No, I wish not to delude myself into some fantasy in which I am the romantic knight I had seen myself as."

Mabel was dumbfounded. "Jeez Dipper, that was weirdly poetic."

"Yeah, I don't know where that came from. I have a lot of emotions right now. Look, I'm gonna go up on the roof for a little bit to clear my head, okay?" With that, he took his leave up the passageway that led to the roof of the shack.

* * *

Norman found him lying on his back on the roof wide eyed, soaking in the universe and the cold of the night. His stargazing, however, was interrupted when Norman's body appeared standing over him, blocking his view.

"Hey Dip," he said. "Mind if I sit here."

Dipper shrugged noncommittally. "Go ahead."

Together they sat a moment, Norman searching for a way to begin. Complimenting the sky was the best he could come up with. "The stars are pretty nice here. I ever tell you that?"

"Yeah, a buncha times."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm all right." His subdued tone said otherwise.

"Look, I'm sorry I roped you into that. I know how much you wanted to be there tonight, it's just that-"

Sitting up, Dipper forced a small smile. "Norman, it's really okay. I'll get over it. I know how you feel about your gift, how you feel it's your responsibility to help ghosts however you can. And I know it's a lot more important to help them move on than for me to experience some dumb dance. You're such a good, compassionate guy and I just wanted one chance to sweep you off your feet like you deserve before you have to go back to Massachusetts. I guess I'm just a little selfish is all since I still feel kinda disappointed that I couldn't do that. I'll be fine though. There'll be other dates. Like next summer. A whole year away…"

"You are not selfish, Dipper. How many lives have you saved since you first came to this town? And I know you helped make one little girl very happy tonight. She wanted me to thank you, by the way."

"Heh."

"You don't have to sell yourself short, just because you're short." It was a dumb joke Norman had told many times before, but still it forced a small laugh out of the other boy.

"Dude, shut up." At least he was smiling again.

"Hey, why don't you go downstairs and pick a few movies we can marathon all night."

"Yeah, okay, that sounds good."

"Pick some that are extra scary. I promise I'll hold you if anything becomes too intense for you." Horror movies weren't really all that terrifying compared to some of the shit these kids have been through, so not many films truly frightened them anymore, but they still liked to use "being scared" as an excuse to cuddle with one another at night sometimes. Even if it wasn't quite the date Dipper had anticipated, he still went inside with Norman feeling somewhat happy again, looking forward to whatever time they'd have together.

* * *

Forty minutes later, Dipper was on the couch in the living room, a blanket over his shoulders and his face illuminated only by the flickering of _Puppet Master X: Axis Rising_ (easily one of the top five films in the _Puppet Master_ series and one of the best horror movies ever to feature Nazi puppets, according to Norman) that was displayed on the television.

Norman had disappeared into the kitchen not long into the movie under the pretense of making popcorn, which Dipper thought was pretty weird because it wasn't like him to willingly miss out on some sweet puppet dismemberment action, but whatever. He contented himself with the gore on the screen in the meanwhile. Finally Norman returned, sans popcorn, and turned off the screen, sending the room into a darkness that hid how red his face was.

"Okay," he began, a bit flustered. "So this is probably the sappiest and lamest thing I have ever done in my life but here it goes anyway." He cleared his throat, approached his boyfriend, looked him straight in the eye, and extended his hand. "Dipper Pines, would you do me the honor of dancing with me?"

Now it was Dipper's turn to blush. "Y-yes. Of course."

He took the extended hand and was pulled up into Norman's embrace, their hands on each other's hips. Once they were close, the sound of music drifted in from the kitchen. Had either of them checked, they'd have seen Mabel holding a radio above her head, the volume just loud enough to be easy for the boys to hear, yet quiet enough not to risk waking up the sleeping Grunkle upstairs. The sound of a recognizable piano riff and a man's voice reverberated through the downstairs of the shack.

 _Tell me did you sail across the sun_

 _Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded_

 _And that heaven is overrated_

 _Tell me, did you fall from a shooting star_

 _One without a permanent scar_

 _And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there_

Mentally, Norman cursed Mabel. He had told her to find something romantic on a CD or cassette, not whatever crap happened to be playing on the radio at the time. To his surprise, however, Dipper's face absolutely lit up.

"Train! My favorite classic rock band!"

"Dipper, you have a really sucky taste in music."

"Yeah. I know."

Norman smiled. He would have to thank Mabel later for finding the perfect song. "It's okay. It's cute. I have a pretty sucky taste in movies so I guess I can't judge."

Much as Dipper usually hated being called the "C-word," as he referred to it (though Mabel had many times tried to convince him that calling it such was a very bad idea), with Norman he didn't mind so much.

They danced and swayed slowly to the song, and in their heads they weren't at the shack at all but back at the high school gym as initially planned. Mabel entered the room but the boys were too wrapped up in each other to notice her presence, even when her camera was flashing off every few seconds, capturing enough of the dance that she probably could've made a flipbook of it out of her pictures if she wanted too. A flipbook that started from the first few awkward steps to the number of cheesy twirls thrown in and finally ending with the young couple's first "official" kiss.

Unlike the one shared between Norman and Dipper's body possessed by Janet's soul, this kiss was warm. It only lasted a second, but still they both agreed afterwards that in the next few days (not to mention next summer) they'd have to try it out a whole lot more.


End file.
